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Sunday, August 15, 2010

The ignorance in our midst

Submitted by Kirkley

I am a support worker for individuals with special needs and thought I would share this "lovely" story with you.

I boarded the GO bus in Newmarket last week to go to Union station. My client and and I sat at the front of the bus. Almost immediately after the bus departed from the terminal a fellow rider decided to very loudly express his great dislike for my handicap friend. Every time she spoke he would loudly exclaim, "f*ck me" or "Jesus Christ", among other rude remarks.

He even yelled out to people on the bus at one point asking, "Does anyone have some f*cking earplugs? This goddamn girl hasn't shut the f*ck up since she got on the bus".

It was beyond rude. When the bus driver was pulling into Union he even made a point to get out of his seat early, make his way to the front of the bus, stare at her with a look of total disgust before saying, "f*ck man" and making his way of the bus.

The bus take thes 404 and DVP so once it gets going there really is no escape, it's not like I could very well say to the bus driver, "Excuse me sir could you let us out here, I think we will catch the next bus."

It was quite possibly the most brazen display of rudeness I have ever seen and I was actually deeply upset by having to listen to someone disrespect my friend like that for close to an hour.

I was unable to confront him because I didn't wish to have a major issue while with my client or draw attention to the fact that he was being such a dick to her when she was in fact completely unaware.

I know that perhaps her talking may have annoyed some people on the bus, but she does have a right to speak. Other people with average intellectual capacity carry on conversations, some much more distasteful than the simple chatter she and I were sharing.
When I got this email it made my blood boil. I don't know how I would have reacted but people like that man deserve a slap across the face.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Was the bus driver aware this was going on? This is completely unacceptable, this man should of been told to sit down and shut up or been kicked off the bus. This type of harassment doesn't stand on the trains (that's what the yellow strips are for) and it should stand on the buses either!

TomW said...

The trouble is that the bus is going down an expressway. About the only thing the bus driver could have done is exit the expressway, pull over somewhere, and then (politely) tell the abusive passenger to either shut up or get off.

At least the subject of the abuse was unaware.

Anonymous said...

Being the father of a special needs child I would have punched the SOB in the face and then thrown him out of the moving bus. People like that don't the deserve the courtesy of the bus pulling over somewhere.

sara said...

I know CJ personally and I'm surprised she didn't mention her own sister is developmentally delayed so I can understand her anger.

There are people on this planet who deserve a slap in the mouth.

But I have to ask why the bus driver didn't interfere. He should stand up for his passengers. Not everyone can handle confrontation which is why so many people shut up and take it and it sounds like this wasn't a man any woman would want to mess with because who knows how he would react? But the driver could have radioed for police and he should have been arrested for disturbing the peace.

My 2 cents.

Camilla said...

Busdriver of other passenger... somebody should have said something. Doesn't matter if the person he was refering to had no idea. I'm sure he made everybody very uncomfortable for the entire ride! What an ass!